With funding being cut to schools our Facebook fans wanted to know how much the government spends on prisoners -- compared to what they spend on our kids.

Here's how the numbers break-down for prisons -- according to the Department of Corrections each prisoner costs the state an average of $33,000 dollars a year.

Per student depends on the district -- but Traverse City Area Public Schools will get just over 6,800 dollars per student next year.

We took these figures to one of our local state representatives who says they may seem surprising -- but prison funding pays for more than school funding.

"A prisoner of course includes room and board and health care all that stuff we are required to do to take care of an inmate 24-7. We are obviously not doing that with children," explained Rep. Ray Franz, a Republic with District 101.

Traverse City Area Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Paul Soma says the state could save money in the long run by investing more in education.

Soma says stronger schools would mean less criminals down the road.

"From a stand point of a public education entity we would suggest the better investment is to invest in early childhood invest in children before they get to that level and you can cuts costs in the future," said Soma.

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